The invention relates to cosmetic compositions. More particularly, the invention relates to cosmetic composition for use in eyebrow pencils.
The use of pigmented materials to ornament the eye area is a practice that goes back at least to ancient Egyptian times. It was not uncommon at that time for women, and even men, to adorn their eyelids, eyebrows and lashes with kohl, a black powder, which was probably at the time made from galena or lead sulfide. The habit was so popular that people often shaved their eyebrows, in order to replace them with heavily drawn kohl imitations.
The love of eye ornamentation was not limited to Egypt, but rather was widespread in the ancient world. Kohl continued to be the eye cosmetic of choice, but by Roman times had come to be made of antimony sulfide. Nonetheless, the habit of emphasizing or replacing the natural brows with a darker, less natural line continued throughout the centuries. Although in recent times kohl eventually was replaced by synthetic, but safer, pigmented cosmetics, even in the 20th century women have often plucked or even shaved their eyebrows, and filled in the natural brow line with colored cosmetic pencils.
As the world prepares to enter a new century, however, the trend in eyebrow ornamentation has returned back to the natural look. It is now uncommon to see the unnatural high arch of an eyebrow thought to be so attractive in earlier years, even in relatively modern times. Notwithstanding this return to nature, brow pencils are still much in demand, frequently being used to compensate for what nature may have neglected. Such pencils are now commonly used to provide a more natural and attractive shape to the brow, or to fill in sparse areas of the brow, rather than to replace it with another image entirely. In this regard, modern eyebrow pencils have not kept up with the trend. Most commercially available pencils consist of a solid wax base in which have been uniformly dispersed one or more pigments. Such pencils do provide good color to the brow. However, the resulting image frequently hearkens back to ancient times: the color can only be applied to the brow in a solid single-color line, which confers a now-unstylish harsh and unnatural look to the brow, which is unacceptable to most women seeking a natural look, since no natural brow consists of a single color, nor are the natural lines ever uniform or unbroken.
Certain types of more recent brow pencils have attempted to overcome the problem by utilizing different colors in a single pencil, thereby offsetting the hard look of the dominant single color line by the presence of other colors. While the presence of other colors does assist in lending a softer, more natural look, the presence of the single unbroken line remains, and thus, such pencils still do not completely resolve the problem of creating a brow with an uncontrived appearance.
Clearly, there is a need for a brow pencil that will effectively fill in gaps or gently shape the brow, and yet will leave the user with a soft, naturally appearing eyebrow. The present invention now provides such a product.
The invention relates to cosmetic composition for use in a cosmetic pencil comprising a wax base into which is distributed at least one agglomerated pigment. The pigment is incorporated into the wax base in such a way so as to substantially avoid breaking down the agglomeration, resulting in a non-uniform dispersal of the color from the pigments throughout the pencil. The resulting composition, rather than being uniformly colored throughout the base, has discrete flecks of pigment distributed through the base; when incorporated into a pencil, and applied to the skin, preferably in the eyebrow area, the composition produces wisps of color from the agglomerated pigment on the skin, approximating the appearance of brow or other natural hairs, thereby providing a more natural look than traditional brow pencils.
The invention also provides a method for making an eyebrow pencil comprising combining a wax base with at least one agglomerated pigment; mixing under conditions sufficient to achieve uniform distribution of the pigment throughout the wax base, but insufficient to permit deagglomeration of the pigment and homogeneous coloring of the wax base; and incorporating the combined wax base and pigment into an appropriate pencil carrier.
The invention also relates to a method of coloring the eyebrow area which comprises applying to the eyebrow area a pencil as described above.